


Der Erlkonig

by athos



Category: Der Erlkönig | The Erlking - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (and Schubert)
Genre: Dark, Dark in the way that Old Northern European fairytales are dark, Groping, Kissing, M/M, Read the poem first, dub-con, fades to black, non-con, the Elf King molests and abducts a 14 year old boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 09:18:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athos/pseuds/athos
Summary: Inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1782 poem of the same name.I wrote this after hearing the poem put to music composed bySchubertin an Intro to Music history course. I encourage you to listen to it! It's a fascinating and suspenseful piece of music.Please read the tags and read the poem. Specific warnings in tags and endnotes.





	Der Erlkonig

 

"Erlkonig" (The Elf King) 

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1782

Translation from  [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlk%F6nig ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlk%F6nig)

*****

 

_ Who's riding so late, through night and wind? _

_ It is the father, with his child;  _

_ He has the young lad clasped in his arms,  _

_ He holds him securely, he holds him warm. _

_ "My son, why do you hide your face?" _

_ "Father, don't you see the Elf King? _

_ The Elf King, with his crown and cape tail?" _

_ "My son, it's just a strip of fog." _

_ "You lovely child, come with me! _

_ So many lovely games I will play with you. _

_ Many colorful flowers are by the shore,  _

_ My mother has many golden robes." _

_ "My father, my father, can't you hear,  _

_ The promises the Elf King is whispering to me?" _

_ "Be quiet, stay quiet, my child;  _

_ It's just the dry leaves rustling in the wind." _

_ "Fine lad, will you come with me? _

_ My daughters will tend to you;  _

_ My daughters will put you to bed every night,  _

_ And they will sing and dance until you fall asleep." _

_ "My father, My father, can't you see over there? _

_ The Elf King's daughters at that dreary place?"  _

_ "My son, my son, I see it clearly,  _

_ It's just the old weeping willows so grey." _

_ "I love you, your beautiful figure excites me;  _

_ And if you're not willing, then I will use force." _

_ "My father, my father, he's grabbing me! _

_ The Elf King has done something terrible to me!" _

_ The father shudders, he rides swiftly,  _

_ He holds in his arms, the moaning child. _

_ He arrives at the farm with pain and distress. _

_ In his arms, the child was dead. _

 

 

*****

 

 

 

No moon illuminated the courtyard of what passed as a street in the small village, only the harsh glare from the torches carried by Wilhelm's father and his own. Kunbert watched, shivering in the cold, as the village priest walked as quickly as his old legs would allow down the steps from their church. Only a few minutes before, the priest had taken Wilhelm by the arm, dragged the protesting boy into the church, taken him down into the crypt, and left him under the watch of a young priest in training. 

Kunbert shook harder when the old priest stopped in front of him. Kunbert was so confused. He and Wilhelm were best friends, and had been since they were born not a week apart some 14 years ago. This day, like so many days before, he and Wilhelm had talked and played together after their morning in the fields. They pretended that they were dragon slayers or knights defending their village from the Elven Riders, who would take the children of the village and leave changelings in their place unless Kunbert and Wilhelm stopped them—but just as they had started that game that afternoon, a chill settled over the both of them, and each felt that they were being watched. So they climbed the tree and watched the men out in the fields, talking.

When dusk fell, they decided to go home. Wilhelm was bigger and stronger, and he just leaped out of the tree and waited for his friend. Kunbert, not wanting to be outdone by Wilhelm, went to leap as well, but his shirt caught on a branch and he fell. Fortunately, Wilhelm was there to catch him, and he did, holding Kunbert to his chest. For a moment they did not move, Wilhelm holding Kunbert tightly to him, both looking into the other's eyes. They had been close before, but this time it was different. Wilhelm bent his head down and lightly pressed his lips to Kunbert's.

That had been strange, but not unpleasant. Adults kissed, but only on the cheek. Wilhelm and Kunbert had kissed like that a lot, but this was much better. Then Wilhelm pulled back and looked at Kunbert with as much surprise as Kunbert had felt. Kunbert had reached up to meet Wilhelm's parted lips again, when yells from the adults coming in from the field had interrupted them. Kunbert had not understood, not when they tore him from Wilhelm's side, not when they had rushed them both to the church, not when they had taken Wilhelm away.

The priest said something, shaking Kunbert from his thoughts and bringing him back to the moonless, cold courtyard. They were taking him away? Why? Where? What had he done? When was he going to see Wilhelm again?

The priest, the old man that Kunbert had known for years as a friend, looked at him in fear and concern. "Kunbert," he said gravely, taking his rosary from around his neck  and pressing into Kunbert's numb fingers. "Take this, and say your prayers, my son!" 

He said a familiar blessing over the boy and his father. After a moment of indecision, he said to the father, "Take him to the monastery at the fork in the river." Kunbert's father nodded, and mounted the horse. He reached down and grasped Kunbert around the waist, hoisting him up onto the horse in front of him. 

The priest looked up at them. "Go with God, my children," he said in his old, wavering voice. "Go, as quickly as you can! Take the quickest routes! You must get him to the monastery, before he tempts worse to him!" Kunbert's father looked with apprehension from the priest to his son, and then spurred the horse into a gallop, taking them down the road and into the night. 

The quickest route to the monastery took them through the Black Forest. Intelligent men did not venture into it without dire cause in broad daylight, much less on a moonless night, but the two on their horse ran headlong down the path leading straight into it. Besides, the father reasoned to himself, the stories about the Black Forest being home to the Elf King and his Court were merely that: stories. And he and his son had God's protection.

An hour into the fey and dark place, Kunbert spoke. "Father," he croaked, then tried again. "Father, what is happening? What have I done?"

His father only said shortly, "Quiet, Kunbert. You must stay still." 

Kunbert obeyed, trying to keep warm by curling up and making himself as small as possible. He followed the old priest’s directions and repeated the rosary, clenching the worn wooden beads tightly in his fist. When they had entered the dark forest, the beads began to tingle in his palm. He had been able to ignore it but the tingling was stronger now, and it seemed like a little voice in the back of Kunbert's head was whispering,  _ "Let go of them. They will not protect you… Just let go…let go...let go..." _ Kunbert frowned at the beads, shook his head, and was about to begin the rosary again when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Was it another rider? Who else could be riding so late?

Kunbert craned his head for a better look, and gasped. 

It was another rider, but not one from this world. A huge black horse with unearthly, glowing green eyes, running effortlessly through the trees to the left of the narrow trail. Its rider clothed in multilayered robes of darkly iridescent greens, purples, and black. Pale, flawless skin above the robes, long, shiny black hair topped by a crown of golden leaves swirling around and framing an impossibly beautiful face with rosy, sensual lips and intense, green eyes. 

Eyes that stared right back at Kunbert. 

The Elf King. This is how the stories always described him. Kunbert drew back. His father's grip tightened, and he said, "Kunbert! Stop squirming or you'll fall off!"

"But father," Kunbert protested, "It's the Elf King! Don't you see him on his horse, riding alongside us?"

Kunbert's father looked and saw nothing but a faint grey haze to their left. "It's just a patch of mist, son, not the Elf King, He's only a story."

Kunbert looked up at his father's face dubiously, then back to the left. The Elf King was still there, but closer this time. 

"Well, well," the Elf King said. His low, intent voice sent an unfamiliar tremor through Kunbert’s body. "Who's riding so late through night and wind, through my woods? Father and son, I see… and what a beautiful son! What is your name, my dear?" The Elf King stretched out a white, long-fingered hand towards Kunbert's cheek as if to touch it. 

Kunbert gasped and recoiled again. "Kunbert!" his father snapped. 

"But father!" Kunbert cried, "The Elf King, he's still there! He's speaking to me, asking my name!"

Kunbert's father looked again, and saw nothing. "Kunbert, you're imagining things. It's just leaves rustling in the wind. Now stay quiet!" he admonished his son, but he kicked the horse, urging it to go faster.

Kunbert, now shaking with both chill and fear, looked to the left again. The Elf King still rode next to them with a knowing smile on his beautiful face. "He cannot hear or see me, dear boy, because he's traded belief in me for belief in a God who never shows his face," the Elf King said for Kunbert's ears alone. "He has forgotten the power in the old stories, ignored the warnings. But you, darling lad, you  _ do  _ believe, and that puts you in my power. Just come a bit closer, let me take you to my home. I can show you so many wondrous things!"

The Elf King motioned with a hand, and Kunbert could see the land of the Elves somehow moving in and out of the trees. It was not sunny, for the sun never shone in the fey lands, but the wide grassy fields and streams were illuminated by a full moon, one that shone only for them. There were trees that looked like they had been built to climb. A child's paradise. In fact, there were children there, some elven, some human (though they all looked younger than he), playing together. They all looked so happy, as if they had not a care in the world. They frolicked together, laughing and shouting, under the watchful gazes of five tall, willowy elf maidens. They were smiling at the children fondly. One looked from their charges and raised her eyes to meet Kunbert's stare, and for an instant so brief Kunbert was sure he had imagined it the expression on the beautiful Elf maid's face changed from kind to possessive, and her green eyes glowed with a fey light. 

And then she smiled again, and beckoned for Kunbert to join them. Kunbert felt her gesture as though she had grasped him by the ties of his threadbare tunic. Then the pull was gone; she had turned back to the happy children. Kunbert sighed wistfully at the scene magically shown to him. It was so different from his home, where the land was brown and hard, the work unending, and the only person Kunbert ever had to play with was Wilhelm. But they had taken Wilhelm from him, so he didn't even have that anymore and he didn’t understand why. 

"Do you see?" Kunbert jumped at the Elf King's whisper in his ear. He was so close! "Other children like yourself have come with me, and see how happy they are? They play with my daughters, as they will play forever. If you come with me, you will never die, never grow old, never change…not unless I want you to. And you are so beautiful, so pure…perhaps I will keep you just as you are."

Kunbert felt an inexplicable chill at those words. Those children looked like they were having such fun… But of course he could not leave! Kunbert was about to turn away, but the Elf King's white hand reached out again and grasped Kunbert's chin. His touch was stunningly cold, and leeched away any strength Kunbert would have had to resist. 

The Elf King looked into Kunbert's wide eyes again, and said softly, "Ah, but there are so many other games that you and I can play together…but you are so young. I wonder if you know any of them yet?" His lips spread in a smile before they came closer and met Kunbert's own lips. 

Kunbert sat there, vaguely aware of the horse still moving under him, his father still behind him, the noise of the forest rushing past them, but it all faded as he felt the Elf King's lips moving against his. He was frozen with shock, and he heard the Elf King's voice in his head, "Look at me." Kunbert did, and found himself mentally reliving the day--he and Wilhelm playing, the feeling of being watched, sitting in the tree, Kunbert falling out of the tree, Wilhelm catching him, the kiss--all while the Elf King kissed him now, lips prickling with sensation and something within him yearning for more. The Elf King broke off his kiss and laughed. 

"Oh, ho!" he exclaimed. "So you could be sporting! How delightful to see desire in such a bright, beautiful lad. But that is as far as you have gone?" He bent forward again. Kunbert tried to back away, but sometime during the last kiss the Elf King's hand had moved to the back of Kunbert's head and now held him tightly immobile.  The Elf King moved quickly, bringing his lips--warm, in strange contrast to the icy fingers he now felt wrapped up in his hair--down to cover Kunbert's again. The feeling of the Elf's lips moving over his was overwhelming, and Kunbert felt like his whole body was tingling. Then he felt a hot, wet touch smoothly sliding over his upper lip, and he gasped at the new sensation. The wet touch entered his mouth and ran along the inside of his lips. Kunbert thought, "My god, is that… what is he doing to me?" and whimpered as the Elf King's burning tongue lightly traced a line down the middle of his own, then somehow wrapped around it, squeezing slightly. Kunbert's body stiffened in shock, and his hands twitched open. The wooden rosary fell unnoticed from Kunbert's fingers to the ground where it scorched upon the dark earth. 

Kunbert's mind reeled. Every movement of the Elf King's impossibly long tongue in his mouth sent a pulse of inexplicable pleasure through his whole body, settling in his groin. He found himself reacting, moving his lips against the Elf King's to feel more, hesitantly moving his tongue--at first to evade the unfamiliar intrusion, but soon enough to slide wetly against it. It was  _ wonderful.  _ His body and mind ached for...for... he knew not what. Kunbert moaned softly into the Elf King’s kiss. 

The Elf King grinned wickedly against the mouth of his new chosen lover. "Oh, my lovely child," he sighed, seeming reluctant to break off the kiss, and ran his long fingered hand through Kunbert's blond hair. "I must have you. You  _ must  _ come with me. I cannot leave you to waste here. That was but a taste of what we will do together, you and I, my sweet, dear, lovely boy." He took his hand from Kunbert's hair and lightly ran one finger down the boy's body to rest at the top of his trousers, then lightly cupped the newly awakened hardness within them. The Elf King smiled and his eyes glowed like green embers. "And I see you enjoyed it too. So responsive, little one. Come with me," he coaxed.

Fear cut through the unfamiliar arousal. Kunbert shook even harder and moaned as the Elf King traced his length through the thin cloth with his chill finger.

His father heard the moan, and looked down anxiously at Kunbert. "My son, what is wrong?" he asked. The horse slowed from its gallop to a nervous, jolting trot.

"Father," Kunbert whimpered, his eyes wide. "The Elf King….he—" Kunbert cried out at the Elf King gently squeezed. "He is…oh, God, what is he doing to me? Stop, please!"

The father paled and felt a chill to his left. He stopped the horse and looked all around. He could see nothing except the still, dark forest. He looked down at his son who was ashen and sweating in spite of the cold.

As the father stopped, the Elf King raised his hand to grasp Kunbert's chin in an unyielding grip. When he spoke, his voice was low and inexorable. "If you do not come to me willingly, dear boy, I will use force. You cannot prevent me from taking what I want. I want you, and I will have you." With his other hand he reached out for Kunbert’s arm.

Terrified now, Kunbert yelled, "Father!"

The cry startled the horse into a rear, and Kunbert's father kicked at its ribs urging it into a full gallop as soon as its front hooves hit the ground. 

The Elf King's horse raced after them with an unearthly shriek that Kunbert alone could hear. For a brief moment, Kunbert dared to think that he might escape, but that moment was quickly swallowed up by the fey horse’s thunderous hoofbeats. All too soon the Elf King, green eyes ablaze, was beside them once more. He laughed triumphantly and grabbed Kunbert with both arms. Kunbert felt himself being pulled from his body and as the world faded, he heard the Elf King say, "Mine!" 

Kunbert's body went slack in his father's arms. The father cried out in shock, and put one hand on his son's neck. His pulse was weakening, and he could hear his son's ragged breath only faintly. Kunbert's father kicked the horse, willing it to go even faster, and for the duration of the ride, held his son close and prayed to God to save him. 

But his prayers were useless, for when the exhausted horse staggered into the courtyard of the monastery, Kunbert's body was nothing more than a soulless husk, an empty shell. The boy was dead.

 

* * *

 

Kunbert came to himself slowly. He reclined on something big and soft. He opened his eyes to find a golden glow illuminating the big room he was in, the multitude of soft pillows and blankets, the white silk robe he wore. He was confused; where had his clothes gone? He then remembered what had happened-- he and his father fleeing in the forest from the Elf King. 

He felt suddenly lightheaded and trembled. He was there. In the Elf King's lands. The Elf King had taken him.

"No, my lovely boy. Not yet," said the Elf King softly, just behind Kunbert's ear. He ran his tongue lightly up the round edge of it, delighting in the boy's shiver, and promised, "Soon."

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: The Elf King kisses and fondles a 14 year old boy before abducting him. Further assault is somewhat implied, but fades to black.


End file.
